Rahman received awards for best film song and best soundtrack, both compositions for the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Rahman won two Oscars, a Bafta and a Golden Globe last year for his soundtrack to the multi award-winning Slumdog Millionaire. The composer is often called the Mozart of Madras, the city where he works.

Rahman won in the best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture. His Jai Ho song in the film also won in the best motion picture song. ”This is insane, god is great again,” Rahman said as he accepted his award.

Rahman beat such rivals as Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds and rock star Bruce Springsteen in the soundtrack and best song categories respectively.

Last month, Rahman was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for his Tamil song NaNa from the Hollywood film, Couples Retreat. The song is vying with 62 others for the nominations which will be revealed on 2 February.

The 44-year-old composer is a musician with a staggering range – from raga to reggae to hip hop to Indian folk to jungle rhythms to western classical, our correspondent says.

Seventeen years after he began writing music and songs for films, the jingle maker-turned-musician finally got recognition as India’s first truly global film music composer with his score for Danny Boyle’s sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.

Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and tabla player Zakir Hussain are the other Indian musicians who have won Grammy Awards.

Seamlessly blending the traditional with the modern, the music spanned the differences of language, enthralling old and young, touching the very heart strings at a time when Australia-India bilateral relations have come under strain following attacks on Indians in this country.

Music transcends boundaries and Saturday night it did, as Sydneysiders were taken on a journey of peace and joy by Rahman and his amazing troupe of nearly 40 musicians, dancers and supporting artists over 2-1/2 hours even as ominous clouds threatened to give way. A steady drizzle began as the sonorous sounds of “Khwaja Mere Khwaja” filled the cool night air.

It being one of the most anticipated concerts staged as part of the three-week Sydney Festival, people had begun securing places as early as 12 p.m. to get up and close with their music idol at the Parramatta Park, in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta which has the largest population of Indian and South Asians in Australia.

Even the American-born Premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally, couldn’t conceal her excitement.

She said: “This event is a celebration of Indian culture, music and dance and acknowledges the invaluable contribution that the Indian community has made to the social fabric of NSW. It sends a clear message that NSW is a welcoming place for people of every country to study, live and work.”

For the 20 young boys and girls, who got a chance to perform with the world renowned maestro, it was the most exhilarating experience.

“It was a mind blowing opportunity that comes probably only once in a lifetime. We had intense rehearsals for five days and were really nervous, but once on stage, the energy and power of the music just consumed us all,” Akshita Mohan, 18, a resident of suburban Westleigh who was one of the supporting dancers, told IANS.

It is not often that an artiste of Rahman’s calibre performs for free, but that is typical of the man and his music.

“The concert is a gesture of friendship and goodwill between the two countries. I hope this solidarity continues to grow and blossom through the coming years,” said Rahman amidst deafening applause.

For those who couldn’t brave the crowds, the concert was telecast live by Australian Broadcasting Corporation to 44 countries with Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden, who plays for Chennai Super Kings as one of the hosts.

Rahman, who flew back home Sunday morning, was a guest of the NSW state government and Sydney Festival, which is Australia’s largest annual cultural event, showcasing a broad spectrum of Australian and international dance, theatre, visual arts and music.

As festival director Lindy Hume told IANS: “There are only a handful of living artists in any genre whose work is instantly and easily embraced in both eastern and western cultures – and one of them is A.R. Rahman. The message of this concert is one of harmony and cultural understanding between Australia and India, two countries who share so much more than a national day (Jan 26) and love of cricket.” (Courtesy: indiatimes.com)

iPod Nano

• Video recording: A video camera records video in portrait or landscape,which is perfect for emailing or posting on Facebook or MobileMe. A built-in mic lets you capture audio. And when you play back your video on iPod nano, you’ll hear the recorded audio with it.
• Special effects: iPod Nano also comes with 15 inbuilt special effects which helps to give different effect to your video recording.
• Sync. Share: Share recorded video anywhere ie, youtube, facebook etc.
• FM Radio: The new FM tuner lets you see the names of songs and artists. And two amazing features — iTunes Tagging and Live Pause.
• VoiceOver:VoiceOver tells you the song name and who’s performing it without interrupting your music. VoiceOver comes with many languages support i.e. Chinese(Cantonese), Chinese(Mandarin), Czech, Danish, Dutch,English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish

Apple iPod Nano

Features:

8GB or 16GB flash drive, Stores data via USB flash drive, Music playback time: Up to 24 hours when fully charged, Video playback time: Up to 5 hours when fully charged, 2.2-inch (diagonal) TFT display with 240-by-376-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch, H.264 VGA video, 640 by 480 pixels, up to 30 frames per second with AAC audio.

H2o

The H2O Audio Interval Waterproof Headphone System is the perfect way for swimmers to bring their music into the water and break the monotony of their swim routines.The Interval works well for recreational, fitness, competitive, and open water swimmers and performs equally well in fresh and salt water environments.

* “Made for iPod” Certified.
* Features integrated Surge Waterproof Headphones.
* Durable Polycarbonate design.
* Works for those who wear a swim cap as well as those who don’t.
* With its compact design, the Interval fits comfortably on the back of both men’s and women’s heads.
* Interval’s small size and ergonomic design provide a low-drag, hassle-free swimming experience.
* Soft Elastomer pads on the back of the Interval help hold it securely in place.
* 1 year warranty

H2O Audio’s product development team collaborated with gold medal swimmers Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin to develop our latest swim specific music solution. This year’s Interval Waterproof Headphones System features a wider variety of earplugs sizes and styles, a more secure swim goggle attachment system, and a new ergonomic design, making it easier for you to swim longer than ever before.

Lataji also said in very humble & sweet tones that she was very grateful to the film industry for her achievements. She further said that she was an Indian singer and she owed all her success to the Indian audience.

She is the second Indian to be given this prestigious award by France. The first star to be given this honor was none other than the bollywood superstar Mr.Amitabh Bachchan.

A.R. Rahman won two Oscars for “Slumdog Millionaire”, which was the very first Oscar for A.R.Rahman. He also won the best original score award at the 2009 Golden Globe Award. Amazing Victory. The 52th edition of the Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Jan 31 next year. Let’s hope that Rahman’s music spread the magic again.

Michael Jackson

Jackson also topped the list of the “Top 10 Celebrity Farewell Searches For 2009″ on Yahoo followed by Farrah Fawcett and Patrick Swayze and the “Top 10 Searched Music Artists For 2009″ on Yahoo followed by Britney Spears and Beyonce. Spears — who has topped Yahoo!’s Top 10 Overall Searches for the past four years –dropped from the No. 1 position to No. 5 this year.

“We saw consumers escape to the Web hoping to pursue news and their guilty pleasures: vampires, political implosions, how to moonwalk — you name it, people went online to find it,” said Vera Chan, a Yahoo! Search trend analyst in a prepared statement. “And with economic uncertainty looming, people looked for ways to find stability by searching the Web for new jobs, unemployment benefits, and ways to save through old-fashioned coupon hunting.”

Yahoo! said the popularity of the “Twilight” franchise surged with with every “Twilight” book, DVD, and soundtrack release. Yahoo! attributed a good deal of the Twilight searches to the insatiable appetite of Twilight fans, known as “Twilighters,” for every bit of cast gossip.The biggest surprise in the list of 2009 top searches may be WWE, the official website for professional wrestling. The WWE website includes news of the latest matches and WWE superstar profiles and videos.
Below is the official top ten Yahoo! list for overall searches:
1.    Michael Jackson 2.    Twilight 3.    WWE 4.    Megan Fox 5.    Britney Spears 6. Naruto 7.    American Idol 8.    Kim Kardashian 9.    NASCAR 10.    Runescape  (Courtesy: www.crn.com)

Blackbird Guitars

The modifications include a Maranello Red interior, an accented red A string, and Ferrari

Scuderia emblem….oh did I mention the guitars were signed by F1 drivers Philipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen:

Blackbird Guitars Limited Edition Carbon Fiber Ferrari Travel Guitar

Blackbird designer and founder Joe Luttwak previously worked for Ferrrari in Maranello, Italy prior to starting the guitar company.  The experience he had at Ferrari definitely played a part in the design and usage of carbon fiber material on the Blackbird Guitar.

Great acoustic guitar construction, like great race car construction, benefits from stiff and ultra light materials. Using carbon fiber, like Ferrari’s Formula 1 race cars, for the guitar’s uni-body design produces an instrument that sounds better and is much more durable than any travel guitar available today. Many ideas for Blackbird Guitar’s models were inspired by my time at Ferrari, and it’s wonderful to make a model that honors their unparalleled technology, ingenuity and success.

The guitar was available at Ferrari stores in Europe, but have already sold out.  They are however accepting special, custom orders on the Rider model…no word on cost though.  For reference the regular Rider guitar starts at $1,499.  Here’s a little video about the original guitar:

iPod : Touch

iPod : Touch

iPod touch is as remarkable outside as it is inside. Holding one is all the proof you need. With its curved design, iPod touch is a mere 8.5 mm thin. Its optical glass front and polished stainless steel back feel sleek and smooth in your hand. Turn it on, and instantly you’re impressed by the brilliant 3.5-inch display. iPod touch is the perfect combination of stunning design and revolutionary technology — the total, beautiful package.